


Reflections of a King

by Merfilly



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 15:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wrapped around _Dawn Treader_, a few glimpses into Edmund's view</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reflections of a King

**Author's Note:**

  * For [And_Dream_Of_Erebor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/And_Dream_Of_Erebor/gifts).



"If I were already an adult…"

The words set Lucy and Edmund aback, with Lucy reaching up to cover her mouth against the words.

"Lucy, I'm not here to baby you along," Edmund began, trying to find a way from the treacherous thought-paths her words could trigger in them both. Less and less did their elder siblings think of those lost years. They had their lives to sort, turning away from the wonder and miracles they had seen. "I'm just along to keep you safe in these dark days." He winced; they had already seen the darkest days possible, hadn't they?

"How do we keep facing this world, when our hearts are there, Edmund?" Lucy asked in a soft voice. "Do we let ourselves be like Susan and Peter, growing up and away from the fantastic, or do we find a way to make the fantastic part of our lives again?"

"If I knew that, I would be the Wise, not the Just," Edmund said wanly, before he smiled. "We'll get by, and at least we remember, and care to," he added. "Now, let's get what you need, and then back to Aunt's."

"And Eustace," Lucy said with a sigh and a roll of her eyes for the impossible task of enduring their difficult cousin.

`~`~`~`~`

"Edmund?"

The older boy roused out of his almost doze, looking up into the darkness of the shared room. "Yes?"

"I didn't just dream it all, right?" Eustace asked, fretful in his tone. It made Edmund roll over, looking toward the bed of his cousin.

"Not one bit," Edmund promised. "Narnia is as real as this world, but away from here. We went, and you were brave as could be."

Eustace half-laughed at that. "Not as brave as you were. And not very nice at first."

Edmund smiled, thinking about his own first trip there and all the changes he'd gone through. He'd been a right snot, he could see now, and so easily swayed by the White Witch. Aslan had forgiven him, and Edmund had done all he could to live up to the nobility he was entrusted to provide for his subjects.

"It's alright, though. You stood up when it was most needed," he reassured his cousin. "Hold the memories close, and I don't think we can ever be the boys we were again."

"Sound advice, I think," Eustace agreed, rolling over in his bed to try and sleep again.

Edmund watched the darkness a while more, keeping his own memories close, so he would never mistake it for a dream.

`~`~`~`~`

Dark Island, they called it, and from the moment Edmund fell into sleep, he felt the omen of that name filling him once again. Reality fell away, and all he could perceive was the island, but now he was alone.

Where was brave Eustace? Where was courageous Lucy? Caspian and his cohort of sailors were nowhere in sight.

There was only Edmund, lost in the unending fog of Narnia's home of nightmares. He tried to focus, tried to think of anything but his darker emotions. However, the mist began to swirl, and an improbably tall woman, her dark hair falling long around her figure appeared before him, wand held casually at her side.

"Hello, Edmund."

`~`~`~`~`

With a cry that would have embarrassed him in earlier years, Edmund came awake in the bed. Eustace snored on, leaving Edmund thankful that he had not disturbed his cousin. With a silence borne of fear of discovery, Edmund crept from the bed and down to where Lucy was sleeping, settling on her bed's edge.

"Lucy..." he whispered, seeing her hands knotted in the covers, face showing the turmoil of a troubled sleep. With care, he slid his hand to her shoulder, swiftly covering her lips with a finger at the gasp she awoke with. "Bad dreams?"

"Oh, Edmund, I was there... on that island!"

Edmund nodded. "I suppose that makes me your albatross," he teased, bringing a smile to her lips.

"Did you dream of it as well?" Lucy asked, realizing he'd been there before she made a noise.

"Yes." He moved to take her hand, holding it. "Is it because our time is done there? Making it a difficult memory to hold? I never dreamed like this before. Not even of... the battle."

Lucy sighed softly, but squeezed his hand. He'd been so brave and they had come so close to losing him! "I don't really think we're done there yet, just for a time. So that we can keep Aslan's memory with us here, and be the kind of Sons and Daughters he would approve of."

"Perhaps." He shifted his head to the side. "Should I stay with you, in case the dreams come again?"

Lucy smiled brightly at him; he did not want to be alone, but he had to be a good big brother to her. "Yes, please."

He slipped beneath the covers, and let her pillow her head on his shoulder. "Now, we are safe, because we are together."

"Nothing can hurt us, with Aslan in our hearts."

`~`~`~`~`

"What did we miss from you two?" Peter asked, once the four siblings were together, no adults in sight or earshot.

Lucy looked from him to Edmund, and then at Susan, her eyes full of secrets and her lips turning to a smile.

"Oh, bother, they went back!" Susan exclaimed.

That made Peter sit forward on his chair, interested, for all that he'd tried to put it behind him so he could be the responsible man he needed to be. "Tell us everything!"

Edmund, letting his own smug satisfaction show, nodded to Lucy, to let her tell the story of their adventures at sea. He could wait his turn, or just add to her tale; Lucy was at the heart of their time in Narnia, and Aslan's truest believer.

"We came into Narnia in the sea, and Eustace was with us! Then there was a ship, and Caspian was aboard," Lucy began, her narrative full of quick, excited words and wrapping her siblings into the story easily.

Even Susan, so eager to grow up and be 'sophisticated', listened with all her heart, and Edmund wondered about it. Maybe his brother and sister were only trying to grow up so quickly because of all they missed about being adults in Narnia.

He promised himself that he would not let that happen to himself, no matter what. Ignoring Narnia and longing for it in one was a fast road to trouble, in his opinion.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried, very hard, to keep to the books as best I could, but if Movie-Verse snuck in, please forgive me.


End file.
